Reeses Big Cup

Reese's Big Cup is a chocolate candy in the peanut butter cup style: a milk chocolate shell around a peanut butter filling, scaled up from the standard single cup. Candies of this type usually have a salty-sweet, roasted-peanut centre with a texture between creamy and slightly crumbly, set against a smooth milk chocolate that leans toward caramel and cocoa butter. Expect the filling to be the dominant flavor, with the chocolate rounding off its saltiness. Serve it at cool room temperature, around 18 to 20°C, when the chocolate snaps cleanly and the filling is soft. Straight from a warm pocket or a hot car, the chocolate dulls and the center gets sticky. A short time in the refrigerator makes the shell firmer and the bite more brittle, which some people prefer. Because the cup is larger than the usual size, it works well cut in half or into quarters if you're sharing it or pairing it with a drink. No glassware applies to the candy itself, but the drinks that go with it do have some. A cold glass of whole milk is the classic match, since its fat and mild sweetness soften the peanut butter's saltiness. Black coffee or an americano in a ceramic mug cuts through the richness. For an adult pairing, a stout or porter in a tulip or nonic glass picks up the roasted notes. A bourbon served neat in a Glencairn or rocks glass echoes the caramel and vanilla in the chocolate. The cup also works as an ingredient. Chopped, it can go over vanilla ice cream, into milkshakes, or into brownie batter. In each case the peanut butter center holds its shape better if the pieces are chilled first.